Joan Eardley: A Private View

The
London-born artist Joan Eardley, who settled in Scotland to study and whose
artistic career was cut short when she died—aged 42—in 1963, is best known for
two very different subjects of her painting: the extraordinarily candid—albeit,
at times cartoonish—portraits of the “weans” (young children) in the long-since
demolished Townhead area of Glasgow, and the landscapes and seascapes from the
small fishing village of Catterline, just south of Aberdeen.

The result is undoubtedly one private viewing which fully deserves to receive as wide a public audience as possible.

Although
critically acclaimed during her lifetime, it’s fair to say that Eardley herself
would probably be surprised by the continued attention paid to her work; public
interest in a recent exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
was such that opening hours and dates had to be extended. Not only that, but
the exhibition also provided a “hook” to hang this new play from Heroica
Theatre Company, celebrating Eardley’s life and work: a play that will, for the
most part, be performed “promenade-style” in selected art galleries around
Scotland, including the venue of the exhibition, “Modern Two”.

However,
with no two venues being the same—either in size, style or layout—there seems
little point in focusing particularly on the promenade aspects of the
production; not least because, on the evening of this review, the show had
settled briefly in the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre within the bowels of the
National Gallery of Scotland in the heart of Edinburgh—as near a traditional
seated venue as you can get without being a theatre. So instead of the audience
following the cast around, the cast ran around the audience, not least as
happy-go-lucky kids singing naughty songs.

Joan
Eardley: A Private View is the latest of seven plays written by
Anna Carlisle for Heroica Theatre Company, supporting the company’s goal to
celebrate the lives of “maverick and unsung women”. Admittedly, the extent to
which Eardley herself fits this bill is open to debate; she’s hardly “unsung”,
while the only obvious “maverick” aspect of her life would be her sexuality,
although the word “lesbian” is used only once, and in relation to her aunt.
The title remains apt, however; you leave this production with a real sense of
having met the woman, and glimpsing her life and soul.

This
is thanks to Carlisle’s restrained script and a nuanced performance by
Alexandra Mathie; thanks to both we experience the modest yet passionate woman
whose passion for painting was to “capture the moment of ecstasy”. Mathie is
ably supported by John Kielty and Ashley Smith, who between them play the small
group of life-long friends. The result is undoubtedly one private viewing which
fully deserves to receive as wide a public audience as possible.

Paul F Cockburn is an Edinburgh-based freelance magazine journalist. Since 2012 he has become one of Broadway Baby's most regular contributors, having written more than 400 reviews for the site. As Scotland editor he coordinates Broadway Baby's Scottish theatre coverage beyond the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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The Blurb

Anna Carlisle’s ground-breaking new play celebrates a gifted life stopped in its prime and will give audiences an opportunity to spend time in the company of a great painter as she makes her way through a life of joys, frustrations, disappointments and triumphs. In this compelling and moving promenade production, audiences will come to understand what it was that fired Joan Eardley: they will hear the voices of her cherished Samson children of Glasgow and the sounds of the Catterline storms. They will feel as if they are almost standing in the waves and cornfields with her, and experience for themselves the overwhelming impact of her finished works.